


It's Either the Fog Machine or True Love

by hxwell



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Laser Tag, Pre-Canon, Tumblr Prompt, a truly niche category
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-02
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-20 19:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3662892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hxwell/pseuds/hxwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a mutual friend invited us to their laser tag party and we’re the last two alive on opposite teams and goddammit if i’m going down you’re going down with me</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Either the Fog Machine or True Love

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written a NMTD fic ever, but I saw this prompt and knew it fit beadick perfectly. (like honestly) I know I've probably committed some NMTD fandom fic deadly sins (ex: making bene-dick jokes), so please let me know what you think ^_^  
> Little bits of this are inspired by Life of the Party and Hypothetically, and this takes place before the NMTD storyline~

Ben had only seen the girl once before they were in the darkness of the arena. And he couldn’t even remember her name.

The smoke was way too much for him - he didn’t get why Hero, out of all people, would think that it was fun to run around to loud music for an hour and a half for your birthday when you couldn’t even see the friends you had invited. That didn’t mean he wasn’t kicking butt, though. Ben was the best laser tag player the Messina Games Complex had ever seen - he was sure of it. Or at least he would be the best player if he could find Hero’s cousin.

She was the only one at the party who wasn’t part of their ‘central friend group’, but Hero insisted on inviting her. _She lives three towns away! None of us have seen her for more than three seconds!_ he wanted to exclaim. However, she was also the only other person still alive.

Every single other member of their team sat, defeated, under the small arches that signaled their team base. Ben looked around, jerkily maneuvering his gun, when Hero motioned him over. She was slumped over onto the neon carpet, next to Pedro and Meg, who looked tiredly up at him. “Ben?” 

“What?"

“What are you doing?”

“I’m protecting the base. Keeping an eye out for any intruders. As the last surviving member of this team, your team, and it’s your birthday, so this is the most important team, it is my duty to keep you all safe…” 

“Ben!” Hero exclaimed, snapping him out of his rambling. “Could you please finish up the game and find Beatrice? The pizza’s going to get cold if we’re not finished soon.”

“Sorry, Beatrice?”

“My cousin. She’s the only one left on the other team and I know for a fact that she won’t back down. So you need to go find her, deactivate her vest so we win the game, and then we can go get pizza. Sounds good?”

“Sounds like…a mission.” Ben pulled his gun up to his chest, mimicking James Bond. “And if I choose to accept it-“

“Just go!” Hero leaned over and pushed his legs forward, leaving him to quickly stabilize himself as he ran off into the maze. He stayed as quiet as he could, although he realized that he didn’t need to be quiet since the blaring techno covered all of his sound. He made it to the edge of his team’s territory, and found a small barricade with a hole at his eye level. He snuck past, trying to get a glimpse at the other side. No one seemed to be over there except the deactivated players. He swore that Balthazar had managed to bring a ukulele into the arena and was playing it while everyone waited for the game to be over. He stifled a laugh while sitting up against the barricade. He would just have to wait it out.

“Who are you waiting for?” a voice asked. He jumped.

“Ah!” he yelled, whipping out his gun.

“No, it’s fine,” the voice said. He turned around, looking through the eye hole in the barricade. On the other side of the he saw a girl, slightly shorter than him, with blond hair that didn’t reach her shoulders. She was dressed in all black except for her light pack. “See? My pack lights aren’t on,” she said, motioning at her laser tag pack. “I’m out. Everyone else seems to be under the impression that you just have to sit there after you get out. Definitely not the case.”

“So have you just been wandering around?” _There you go, Ben,_ he said to himself, _That’s the obvious way to start this conversation. No introductions needed at all._

“Yeah, I guess,” she said. “I hear there’s only one person left on each team. Beatrice on our team, who seems pretty cool, and some guy left on the other team.”

“Well, actually-“ Ben stopped himself, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t seen his pack yet, that was covered in bright red lights. He was just a pair of eyes in the barricade hole. She couldn’t tell he was still in! He could say whatever he wanted! He congratulated himself on his detective skills and cleared his throat. “Well, actually, I hear his name is Benedick. I’m pretty sure he’s really cool.”

“Oh really,” she said. “I feel like he might be a Bene-dick, if you know what I mean,” she said, and he rolled his eyes.

“He’s never heard that one before.” 

“Well,” she continued, “maybe I thought that because he’s just being a dick because he’s being so competitive.”

“Maybe he just wants to win. For the glory of his team!”

“It’s just laser tag. How much glory can one possibly get?”

“Pride, honor, bragging rights at school, pride…”

“Ah yes, he’s great at running around and shooting a fake gun. Incredible.”

“Hey, laser tag could come in handy some day!”

“What, when you need to fight the Space Invaders? Are the 1980s crying for help?”

“I think James Bond could have benefited from laser tag instruction…” 

“James Bond? That white British guy they make all those dumb movies about?”

“I think you mean that amazing white British guy-“

“The same thing happens every time!”

“Don’t you want to be a secret agent?”

“The girls are like, twenty years younger than him!”

“Isn’t it in your wildest dreams-“ Ben stopped himself. He realized he was scooting closer to the edge of the barricade, closer to the side with the girl. He reached his hand out for support. He found another grabbing on in return. He pulled himself towards the edge, towards their hands, and started slowly walking towards around the side of the barricade. “Isn’t it in your wildest dreams to be a secret agent, save the world, and have the relationship - all at the same time?”

He found himself looking into her clear, light eyes. She smiled. “Doesn’t this count?”

He couldn’t tell who started the kiss, who was the first to run their hands through the other’s hair, but as he turned into it more and more, he could feel her soft skin cupped in his palm, felt lips pulling on his, almost to the beat of the pulsing, dizzying music. He could tell what stopped the kiss - a flash of noise coming from his vest.

The arena music stopped, and a robotic voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “Game over. Blue team wins.” He looked at her, his eyes widening, a smile over her face.

“Stealth mode,” she started to recite. “Given to one member of each team every twenty minutes. Deactivates the light on a still-alive player’s pack for five minutes.”

“So-“ Ben started to stammer.

“Nice to meet you, Benedick,” she smiled. “Beatrice Duke. I’ll see you around.” She ran back towards her team, leaving Ben stammering, his mouth wide open, his laser tag gun dangling from his pack, and the music still playing.


End file.
